Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse

Genre rock Publisher New West External Links Drive-By Truckers New West

Being a member of the Drive-By Truckers is not for the weak of heart. The constant touring, recording, and the copious amounts of liquor consumed is all enough to wear down the hardiest of souls, yet this Alabama bred, Athens, Georgia-based band refuses to stop. Living such a demanding life has to make a person jaded, not to mention pessimistic, and indeed, the band's last two albums, 2003's Decoration Day and 2004's The Dirty South were rife with dark themes: from suicide, to murder, to pure anger and desperation. To paraphrase one of their songs, something had to give, and when guitarist/vocalist Patterson Hood became a father for the first time in February of 2005, it had to have given him a swift kick in the behind, because judging by the Trucker's rough-edged little beauty of a sixth album, on which Hood and his mates ruminate on the fascinating contradiction and connection between love and loss, the band seem more driven than ever.

Although the Drive-By Truckers will always be rustic at heart, whether playing subtle acoustic music or blowing our ears out with their trademark massive three-man wall of guitars, with A Blessing and a Curse, you can toss those Skynyrd/Southern Rock/Americana labels out the window, as this new album has the quintet shifting gears slightly enough to remain true to their established sound, but not without creating some pleasant surprises in the process. At the top of the list is the punchy opening track "Feb. 14," kicking off with Brad Morgan's insistent drum beat and a slightly off-kilter central riff that instantly conjures thoughts of classic Replacements, Hood stepping in with some decidedly Westerbergian lines describing a lover's spat, his refrain of "Be my valentine" dripping with irony. While Mitch Easter's reed-like Clavioline synth brings the song to a rousing climax (like a synthetic version of Clarence Clemons), the real indicator that we're in for a top-notch record is in Hood's vocals performance, as the man sounds reinvigorated, his raspy tenor hitting the high notes with ease.

Of course, it's not all Hood, the band boasting a triumvirate of highly talented singer-songwriters, a luxury that many other bands would kill for, and Hood, Mike Cooley, and Jason Isbell are all in top form. Cooley's music is always workmanlike, the least adventurous of the three, but he makes up for it with plenty of unforgettable, perceptive, highly quotable lyrics. "Gravity's Gone" is an ebullient, rootsy, upbeat number in the vein of Creedence Clearwater Revival that has Cooley reeling off line after hilarious line, highlighted by the bizarre, "If you were supposed to watch your mouth all the time, I doubt your eyes would be above it." On the other side of the coin, the acoustic "Space City" is his tenderest song to date, as he softly sings from the perspective of an old man who has just buried his longtime wife, the regret encapsulated in the first line: "If I could have one wish right now/I'd be about half as tough as I pretend I am."

Isbell, on the other hand, is the young phenom, more than a decade younger than Hood and Cooley, and on his third album as a Trucker, he continues to emerge as a major songwriting talent, giving the album its two best potential singles. The hard-driving "Easy on Yourself" resonates with a mid-80s feel, echoing bands like The Smithereens and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, all three guitars careening raucously toward the finish, while the gorgeous "Daylight" threatens to steal the show, sounding like a sumptuous mixture of late 70s Springsteen and late-60s Dylan during the verses, only to have Isbell put his own stamp on the song with a soaring vocal performance in the chorus.

As opposed to The Dirty South, which the young Isbell owned, A Blessing and a Curse is all about Hood, who contributes his best work in at least three years. "Aftermath USA" is shamelessly built around an early 70s Stones riff, as Hood sings a tragicomic tale of waking up to the worst possible news, the biggest laughs coming when his protagonist looks in his car to find "Heel marks on the roof line, bad music on the stereo," and, "all the seats in recline." The aggressive, yet brooding "Wednesday" continues in the same Mats vein as "Feb. 14," the loud, pensive title track hearkens back to 2001's fiery Southern Rock Opera, while the gentle "Little Bonnie" has Hood musing about a cousin of his who died as an infant, as Cooley provides lovely lead guitar fills throughout. "Goodbye" might sound like a love song, and it is, but the love Hood is singing about is the fraternal kind, as he expresses his regret over a bad falling-out with a longtime friend, as Isbell adds electric piano in the background.

The album's final track, "A World of Hurt" packs the biggest punch, a semi-spoken word denouement that has Hood laying all his emotional cards on the table, the recurring theme of, "To love is to feel pain," expanded upon beautifully, as Hood explains in an honest, yet compassionate voice (perhaps to his little girl?), that although we can love so much that it hurts beyond comprehension, life just isn't worth living without it. After a final piece of advice ("It ain't too late to take a deep breath/And throw yourself into it with everything you got"), he pulls the rug out from under us, as he drawls five words we would never have expected him to say: "It's great to be alive."

With eleven tracks in 47 minutes, A Blessing and a Curse is the Drive-By Truckers' most focused, direct album yet, continuing a remarkable run of superb albums, going back to 1999's Pizza Deliverance. This time around, the boys (and girl, we mustn't forget bassist Shonna Tucker) trepidatiously step out of the Southern Gothic shadows, and with squinting eyes, venture back into the sunlight, giving us a record bursting at the seams with hope, misery, and most importantly, passion.